ReBirth
by WindSymphony
Summary: Hanako Garner - orphan, adoptive daughter, owner of a strange creature that apparently only she can see - leaves for Egypt after her high school graduation. What force calls for her there she does not understand... But could it have anything to do with the strange dreams she's been having for the past four years? DIO x OC; OC x ? This story is being rewritten!


Prologue - As if We Never Said Goodbye

Rebirth

A Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Fic

Hanako Garner watched the stars move above her, seeming to shift with the movements of the clouds. Her eyes were watery and wide, burning slightly with the smoke that filtered closer to the ground. Carefully, slowly, she shifted her head to the side, her neck creaking slightly on her tiny shoulders. She was, after all, only seven.

Off to her left, the source of the smoke could be seen. A car, small and suburban, was smashed and upside down, completely ablaze. It was a bright beacon in the dark night, and the smell that accompanied the sight made Hanako's stomach roll.

"Papa," she whimpered, rolling herself onto her stomach. Her entire body ached, but she clawed her way slowly to the wreckage. "Mama…. I'm scared ..." She hiccoughed, sniffling as she ceased crawling. Something inside of her seemed to say that approaching the flaming remains was a horrible, terrible idea.

"I'm scared," she sobbed into the dirt, entire form shaking in the night. As she lay there sobbing, a weight akin to the comforting weight of a heavy blanket settled over her. A breeze blew through her short hair and the sound of a pained trilling filled the air.

* * *

"Hana, Hana are you there?"

Hanako jolted slightly, her face impassive as she looked up from her newspaper comics. "Oh, hi Barbra," she yawned, waving to the older woman.

Sighing heavily, Barbra Streisand brushed a strand her long brown hair behind her ear and adjusted her blazer. She was obviously about to leave for work. Her face, beginning to show the signs of her age, was set into a playfully judgemental look; and the hand that didn't hold a briefcase was set on her hip.

"Oh, hey, Barbra," the older woman repeated, rolling her eyes before laughing. "You graduated yesterday, don't start thinking that your life is meaningless now."

"I'm eighteen not fifty," the teen huffed, sitting back in her seat on the couch. The newspaper crumpled in her lap, and grumbling she went about folding it once more before setting it on the coffee table. "I'm just tired, that's all, okay?"

"Allow a woman to worry," Barbra shook her head. "You're my kid, okay? I want you to be happy and healthy and all that," her hand swirled in a circle as though to accentuate her point. "All that," she muttered, obviously disappointed in her own phrasing, which caused Hanako to snort in laughter. "There it is… Something happy!" With a smile of her own, the woman turned to head towards the front door before stopping.

Turning back around, she tapped her chin with a grin. "I have a surprise for you once I'm back from work, Hana! If you're good, maybe even your favorite dinner!"

Hanako groaned loudly, flopping back on the couch. "I'm not four either!"

* * *

The day went by, well, slowly for Hanako. After graduating, there was really nothing to do…. She had no want to go to college, at least not immediately, and it wasn't like she had any friends. High school had just been a means to an end - get in, get out, be free. But now that she was done…. Well, it was boring as hell to be frank. She almost longed for the droning voices of her teachers, the milling about of other students. The only thing she wouldn't miss would be the near consistent teasing - bullying, the more embittered part of her mind supplied - from her classmates, a constant companion since childhood.

Silence was almost worse though. There was nothing good on television, what eight channels were provided with the package Barbra used (news, infomercials, more news….) and the newspaper comics had only lasted so long. With a sigh, Hanako lolled her head onto the armrest of the couch and called out, "Hey, Ace, you here?"

With an almost offended trill, a cloaked figure swirled into existence in front of Hanako's eyes. The figure had no discernable features, as the cloak it wore covered its entire body and most of its face, although a jagged and inhuman mouth split the lower, visible portion of its face. Currently, that jagged mouth was pointed downwards in an almost pout. If the vision had had arms, Hanako was certain they would have been crossed.

"Right, right," she muttered with a lazy smile. "You're always here." Ever since that night, the creature that Hanako called Ace of Wands had been beside her. She'd never mentioned it to any one…. In the past, that would have been cause for even more medication to be pumped into her. After all, she had 'been through trauma' and it would 'only be natural' for her to experience hallucinations. But by now, after a little over ten years of the creature's presence, Ace of Wands was more of a comfort than a cause for concern.

"I just," Hanako continued with a sigh. "Needed something else here other than myself." Barbra wouldn't be back for at least one more hour, and if she were correct in her assumption of the older woman's intent, Barbra would also be busy for another hour once she got home. And Hanako wouldn't be allowed into the kitchen at all.

A gust of wind and a trill was all that Ace offered as a reply, before the creature floated over to the living room television - an old thing, panasonic brand and dusty since Hanako had been avoiding her chores - and seemed to fold inwards in front of it. Now on the floor, the creature began to somehow flip through the television channels, as few as there were, before finding some sort of cartoon and trilling happily.

Hanako smiled softly and allowed her eyes to close, shifting until she was curled up on the couch. With a sigh, she slowly drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines dreams as 'a series of thoughts, images, or emotions while sleeping'. Typically, they are seldom remembered upon waking and are strange in nature. Hanako found that her dreams from the past four years had left her with a sense of intense emotional longing, as though something had been taken from her. They left her with the sense of loss and pain, and often led to her waking in a panic.

Such was how she found herself waking on the couch. Or, well, not quite the couch. She had seemingly rolled off of the couch, a tangled mass of limbs and a blanket on the living room floor. Her head had cracked against the coffee table, causing her to whimper softly in pain.

"Ouch," she muttered, sitting up and rubbing at the bump. The television had been turned off, and if the blanket wasn't a large enough clue, the sound of humming from the kitchen was. Barbra had been home, and at this point Hanako wasn't sure for how long.

Standing shakily, heart still pounding from the dream she had already forgotten, Hanako made her way to the kitchen. Yawning loudly, she waved to Barbra with a quiet, "Hey, welcome home."

"I've been back for two hours," the woman all but sang out, laughing softly. "Dinner can be heated up, but this can't. Sit, sit!"

Hanako grumbled as she was pushed towards the kitchen table, flopping herself into the seat with a sigh. Ace of Wands materialized beside her, trilling softly in confusion, head cocked to the side. After a moment, though, the creature became bored and floated over to the tiny, bunny eared television on the kitchen counter, flipping through the channels.

"Here's something for graduating!"

Barbra's voice brought Hanako's attention back to the now, and she groaned at the sight of an admittedly lovely looking cake. White icing, probably chocolate cake, words that proclaimed 'congratulations!' in messy piping…. It was a nice gesture.

"It's not my birthday," she instead groused, crossing her arms. Ace of Wands had settled on a news station this time, and the slight droning filled the kitchen.

Barbra brushed some of her hair out of her face after she set the cake down, rolling her eyes with a smile. "And I'm allowed to bake for occasions other than birthdays, young lady. Enjoy it, it's a celebration! Oh, almost forgot!" She hurried back to the counter, returning with a handful of candles and a cheap, gas station lighter. "There's even candles," was all but sung out, the objects placed about the cake and lit.

Hanako fought the smile that threatened to cross her face. She'd been through a lot of homes that were, for lack of better words, rough, but Barbra…. Barbra had actually adopted her, taken her in to her home, and did things like this. All the time. Going above and beyond for no other reason than to just do it. It made keeping up her 'surly teenager' act hard. So, rather than grumbling any more, Hanako settled for a soft eye roll before blowing out the candles. The smoke filled her face for a moment, and she closed her eyes quickly to ward off any unhappy memories.

"And now we eat," Barbra quickly cut them both a slice of cake, taking a seat on the other end of the small table. Hanako nodded sharply before digging in to the desert, humming softly. Barbra really was a good baker, no matter how much she complained about the random cake.

After a moment, Hanako was brought from her appreciation of the cake with the sound of a light scraping on the table. A modestly wrapped box was slid across to her, Barbra turning her attention to the window rather than make eye contact. "What's that?" The teen asked, slowly placing another bite in her mouth.

"If you'd open it," Barbra chuckled, shaking her head. "But, I'll tell you. A roundtrip to Egypt; you've been wanting to go for a while now, right?"

"I," Hanako furrowed her brow before smiling softly. "That new job must be nice, huh? Able to afford plane tickets like that?" Taking another bite of cake, Hanako laughed a bit. "Thank you… So much, Barb."

* * *

A/N: After a hella long hiatus, I became disatisfied with ReBirth as it was. Since I wasn't too terribly far into the story itself, I decided to rewrite it! I hope that you will all join me in this rewrite, which will with any luck be much better than it was before!


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